Nittany Lion Club members again demonstrated why Penn State has one of the nation’s most passionate and loyal fan bases by contributing $16.6 million in annual giving during the 2014-15 academic year to greatly assist Nittany Lion student-athletes and the nationally recognized 31-sport program.

Here's a sight that may bring back memories for many Penn State alumni -- students waiting in line outside Steidle Building for West Halls resident hall contracts, on the University Park campus in the early 1970s.

Penn State Smeal College of Business junior Luke Metaxas made Penn State history recently as the Penn State Board of Trustees met at Penn State Beaver. Metaxas attended his inaugural BOT meeting as the first student-elected student trustee.

A new 12-credit graduate certificate in international human resources and employment relations (IHRER) is being offered through Penn State World Campus by the School of Labor and Employment Relations (LER).

The College of Education has teamed up with the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation’s Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services to help high school students who are blind and visually impaired prepare for life as a college student.

The Final Four for men’s college basketball is one of the greatest sporting spectacles in America. For years I had talked with my father, Keith, about one day going. Every year come March Madness time I would tell him “one of these years.” That opportunity came this year when nine great young men and I received an award on behalf of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and NCAA corporate sponsor Allstate.

More than 28,000 students in Pennsylvania receive special education services for autism. Parents, educators and service providers of children living with autism will converge upon Penn State to share the latest updates and best practices to better serve the growing demographic. The National Autism Conference will be held Aug. 3-6 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel at the University Park campus.

Families and youths accustomed to attending Penn State's Great Insect Fair each fall will need to adjust their schedules. For this year at least, the popular annual event will leave the Bryce Jordan Center and instead will be part of the 2015 Ag Progress Days expo, Aug. 18-20.

Scientific experiments with the herpesvirus that causes Marek's disease in poultry have confirmed, for the first time, the highly controversial theory that some vaccines could allow more-virulent versions of a virus to survive, putting unvaccinated individuals at greater risk of severe illness. The research has important implications for food-chain security and food-chain economics, as well as for other diseases that affect humans and agricultural animals.

A contributor to Lens, The New York Times photography blog, writes, "as you immerse yourself in [THON], you begin to realize what is going on: these youngsters are being broken down slowly — and then are being brought back up emotionally, so it is like an incredible bond with everyone on the floor. That’s when you start to understand it."